An adventure with a lot of personality

Bear with me is a traditional adventure game which stands apart because of its original story and setting. The game manages to combine elements from gritty noir detective movies with a cute story about imagination and growing up and offers up a cast of interesting characters.

Voice acting ranges from decent to great although a few lines are not delivered correctly which, along with a few typos, may have to do with the fact that English is not the first language of the developers. The game contains plenty of jokes and while some are a bit corny there are genuinely funny moments especially when Amber and Ted engage in some friendly bickering.

Aside from the unique storyline the game is a standard point and click adventure. Most puzzles are logical. The biggest obstacle for me was finding some items as they can be hard to see against the background. Each episode is fairly short and can be finished in about 2 hours which seems fair for the asking price. There are a few choices to be made which offer limited replay value.

A female touch

This dlc adds a handful of new units to the game. They don't add much in the way of gameplay as they are just more standard sword/spear/bow troops, but do add a bit of flair. It's obviously not historically accurate. On the plus side the dlc is however rather cheap.

Above average tower defence

Unlike the other anomaly games this one offers standard tower defence. It's less original, but the game is otherwise very well done. There is a tech tree, so there is real progress and a reason to revisit levels. The defensive towers and special abilities mean there is plenty to do. All in all an enjoyable game.

Yet another dlc that does not add anything (nothing good at least)

Conclave is proof that Paradox has to stop releasing more dlc for CKII: anything they add at this point is either trivial or actually detracts from the fun. Conclave's main concept is a council that interferes with the ruling king or emperor's decisions. It is somewhat enjoyable when you are a nobleman who can use his council seat to indirectly change this in the kingdom to your advantage but that's where the fun ends.

Even if you start out as a vassal your ambition should always be to become an independent ruler yourself. And once that happens the council is just plain annoying. The ai just randomly changes policies and opposes actions for no good reason (they actually consider it tyrannical if I order the arrest of someone who was plotting to kill my heir). I actually found it quite easy to bring the council to heel, but even doing that isn't enjoyable.

Get the horde out of my game!

About fifteen dlc packs ago Crusader Kings II was limited to European, Christian, feudal rulers. It made for a challenging but ultimately fun simulation of medieval life.

Since that time this has been expanded with more religions (which usually went smoothly) and different government types which have all been flawed in some way: Playing as in Islamic ruler was both easy and boring for example.

In the horse lords you can play as the ruler of a nomadic tribe. Unfortunately the new mechanics are a convoluted mess, making this dlc a frustrating experience. To make things worse the dlc offers very little new content for non-nomadic rulers.

Not better than the real thing

The great thing about video games is that they allow us to experience things we can't do in our daily lives. Usually those games are a lot more fun than the real thing. Actually being in a war is hell, while playing a war game is exciting and fun.

Now I don't know a lot about running a movie studio, but I imagine it is a lot more varied and exciting than looking through lists of stats. But in this game that is just about the only thing you get to do. This game is playable, but not actually fun to play.

Wasted potential

The idea behind this game is interesting. You play a police officer who has to balance his work and private life. Unfortunately the game has never been properly finished. The game is a pure sandbox and therefore lacks story content and the random tasks quickly get repetitive. There are many bugs and glitches in the game as well.

A solid puzzle adventure

Albedo is at its core and old-fashioned adventure. Above average graphics and sound help it stand out from the pack. Unfortunately the game is hampered by a somewhat clunky interface. The puzzles are not always clear and sometimes rather challenging which may have you scrambling for a walkthrough.

1849 strikes gold

1849 is a simple but enjoyable city builder set during the California gold rush. You are tasked with building a town for your miners and producing and trading various goods while dealing with crime and natural disasters. The graphics are cartoony and cute and the game is easily controlled with the mouse.

This gold edition contains both a major dlc (Nevada silver) and comes with both a drm free download and a Steam key making it a very good buy.

Fast food is bad for you, but this dlc isn't

Like the others this dlc offers a new building and scenario for Tropico 4.

The building is quite useful for a change. The fast food joint helps provides decent entertainment at a modest cost and has an upgrade that improves housing quality. Together this makes it a good choice in the campaign and other scenarios as wel.

The scenario is not very challenging, but fun nonetheless. You compete against other fastfood chains and have to make more money than them in a limited time.

A solid but unspectacular dlc

The new building is the Defense HQ. The value of military buildings is always somewhat limited because a skillful presidente need never face military threats during most games. When you do need an army the HQ is a solid choice because it provides a very strong infantry squad.

The scenario is something of a standard affair. You have to build up a strong army to fend off attacks and an economic base to pay for it.

A lot like other Telltale games, but with a sense of humour

If you've played any recent Telltale games you know what to expect. I've found it helps to enjoy this type of games if you think of them as a tv show or movie rather than an actual game. Just forget about the lack of gameplay and marginal choices and instead sit back and enjoy the ride.

And there is plenty to enjoy here. Colourful characters both familiar and new, exciting quick time events (I still don't like them, but at least they are well done) and most importantly an excellent sense of humour.

Recommended for fans of Telltale games and the Borderlands world alike. If you enjoy both add a star (or two) to my score.

Note: This version is activated through Telltale's own site rather than Steam or another platform.

The game that started it all

The Walking Dead was the first of the new style of 'adventure games' from Telltale. Instead of puzzles and humour these new games would offer a more emotional story about a group of survivors in the first days of the Zombie apocalypse.

The game has its own graphical style which is inspired by the original walking dead comics. It gives the game a unique look. Voice acting is very strong throughout and helps to make you care about the characters. On the bad side there is little in the way of gameplay and the choices seem heartwrenching but actually only have a limited impact on the story.

Although the game holds up reasonably well, people who still claim this is the best Telltale game are probably guided more by nostalgia than a factual assessment of its merits. It lacks some of the polish of later games.

Marginal improvements

Paradox releases a great deal of dlc for its grand strategy game. The quality of these dlc's varies wildly in quality and scope from overpriced cosmetic and music packs to dlc that completely changes the game.

Res Publica falls somewhere in the middle. It changes gameplay considerably for republics by overhauling their political systems, but unfortunately there aren't that many in any historical start and the ones that do exist are very small and weak.

RP offers additional features for the most important republic of the era: the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Even with the improvements Europa Universalis is not capable of simulating that republic's strenght and versatility correctly. Unlike the historical Netherlands they usually get overrun by more powerful neighbours.

A modest splash

Yet another Tropico 5 dlc with a new building and scenario. The new dolphinarium is yet another tourist attraction (albeit a very popular one) and as such does not. The scenario, filled with funny references, is highly enjoyable.

Excellent voice acting and graphics save the day

The Wolf among us is in most respects a very typical Telltale game that foregoes gameplay and meaningful choices in order to concentrate on storytelling. The story in question is a prequel to a series of comics (graphic novels if you want to be a snob about it) about characters from fairytales who live in our world. You play Bigby Wolf, the sheriff and as you go about your business you meet characters like Snow White and beauty and the Beast.

What lifts this title above other Telltale games are the high quality of the voice cast and the game's unique graphical style (which resembles the comics). Together they make for surprisingly expressive and compelling characters that help you forget the mediocre story and missed gameplay opportunities.

Bunker bust

One of ten dlc's for Tropico 5 that offers a new building and scenario. The new bunker building can be used to fortify positions and is very useful for that limited role. The mission is rather annoying in that it is a bit of a grind and when you finally come to the end you might find your planning was faulty and you have to start all over.

Below par

This dlc is like all the others for Tropico 5 in that it offers a new building, scenario and costume. Unfortunately the new inquisition building is not all that useful and looks out of place on the island. In the scenario you are stuck in the colonial era which means you never have to worry about happiness and plentiful gold deposits make you so rich it is very simple and short.